Bullying

Bullying may be defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior Intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying Is characterized by an Individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person. Norwegian researcher Dan Losses says bullying occurs when a person is: ‘exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons’. He says negative actions occur ‘when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or In other ways. Bullying is the use f force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively to Impose domination over others. The behavior Is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power. Behaviors used to assert such domination can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or coercion, and such acts may be directed repeatedly towards particular targets.

Justifications and rationalizations for such behavior sometimes include differences of class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, appearance, behavior, strength, size or ability. If bullying Is done by a group, It Is called mobbing. “Targets” of bullying are also sometimes referred to as “victims” of bullying. Bullying can be defined in many different ways. The UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, while some U. S. States have laws against it. Bullying consists of four basic types of abuse – emotional (sometimes called relational), verbal, physical, and cyber.

It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more “lieutenants” who may me to be willing to assist the primary bully In his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse. Robert W. Fuller has analyses bullying in the context of rankings. A bullying culture can develop in any context in which human beings interact with each other.

This includes school, family, the workplace, home, and neighborhoods. In a 2012 study of male adolescent football players, “the strongest predictor was the perception of whether the most Influential male In a player’s life would approve of the bullying behavior”. High-level forms of violence such as assault and murder usually receive most media attention, but lower-level forms of violence such as bullying have only by the sass started to be addressed by researchers, parents and guardians, and authority figures.

It is only in recent years that bullying has been recognized and recorded as a separate and distinct offence, but there have been well documented cases that have been recorded over the centuries. Virginia Wolf considered fascism to be a form of bullying, and wrote of Hitler and the Mans In 1934 as “these brutal bullies”. History In the sass and sass, a cultural movement against bullying gained popularity in the English-speaking world.

The first National Bullying Prevention Week was conceived of in Canada in 2000 by Canadian educator and anti-bullying activist Bill Belles. The charity Act Against Bullying was formed in the UK in 2003. In 2006, National Bullying Prevention Month was declared in the United States. Massachusetts, and sparked reforms in state education. The It Gets Better Project was started in 2010 to combat gay teen suicides, and Lady Gaga announced the Born This Way Foundation in partnership with Harvard’s Bergman Center for Internet & Society in 2011.

A 2012 paper from the Bergman Center, “An Overview of State Anti-Bullying Legislation and Other Related Laws,” notes that, as of January 2012, 48 U. S. States had anti-bullying laws, though there is wide variation in their strength and focus. Sixteen states acknowledge that bullies often select their targets based on “creed or religion, disability, gender or sex, nationality or national origin, race, and sexual orientation. ” Each of the 16 employs a wide array of additional parameters, the paper notes, ranging from age and weight to socioeconomic status.

Of the 38 states that have laws encompassing electronic or “accessibility” activity, 32 put such offenses under the broader category of bullying and six states define this type of offense separately, the authors report. Characteristics of bullying in general Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation. Bullying behavior may include name calling, verbal or written abuse, exclusion from activities, exclusion from social situations, physical abuse or, coercion. According to the U.

S. National Center for Education Statistics (2007), approximately 32% of U. S. School children reported being bullied at school; nearly 4% reported being cyber-bullied. The Center suggests (2001) that bullying can be classified into two categories: 1. Direct bullying, and 2. Indirect bullying (which is also known as social aggression). Ross states that direct bullying involves a great deal of physical aggression, such as shoving and poking, throwing things, slapping, choking, punching and kicking, beating, stabbing, pulling hair, scratching, biting, scraping, and pinching.

He also suggests that social aggression or indirect bullying is characterized by attempting to socially isolate the target. This isolation is achieved through a wide variety of techniques, including spreading gossip, refusing to socialize with the target, bullying other people who wish to socialize with the target, and criticizing the target’s manner of dress and other socially-significant markers (including the target’s race, religion, disability, sex, or sexual preference, etc. . Ross outlines an array of nonviolent behavior which can be considered “indirect bullying”, at least in some instances, such as name calling, he silent treatment, arguing others into submission, manipulation, gossip/false gossip, lies, rumors/false rumors, staring, giggling, laughing at the target, saying certain words that trigger a reaction from a past event, and mocking.

The I-J based children’s charity, Act Against Bullying, was set up in 2003 to help children who were targets of this type of bullying by researching and publishing coping skills. It has been noted that there tend to be differences in how bullying manifests itself between the sexes. Males tend to be more likely to be physically aggressive whereas females end to favor exclusion and mockery, though it has been noticed that females are becoming more physical in their bullying.

There can be a tendency in both sexes to opt for exclusion and mockery rather than physical aggression when the target is perceived to be too strong to attack without risk, or the use of violence would otherwise cause problems for the bullies such as criminal liability, or the bullies see Gay and lesbian youth are more likely to report bullying and may suffer more bullying and more negative effects. Clayton R. Cook and co-authors examined 153 studies room the last 30 years.

They found that boys bully more than girls, and bullies and targets both have poor social problem-solving skills. More than anything else, poor academic performance predicts those who will bully. Characteristics of bullies and bully accomplices Studies have shown that new and resentment may be motives for bullying. Research on the self-esteem of bullies has produced equivocal results. While some bullies are arrogant and narcissistic, bullies can also use bullying as a tool to conceal shame or anxiety or to boost self-esteem: by demeaning others, the abuser feels empowered.

Bullies may bully out of Jealousy or because they themselves are bullied. Some have argued that a bully reflects the environment of his home, repeating the model he learned from his parents. Researchers have identified other risk factors such as depression and personality disorders, as well as quickness to anger and use of force, addiction to aggressive behaviors, mistaking others’ actions as hostile, concern with preserving self-image, and engaging in obsessive or rigid actions.

A combination of these factors may also be causes of this behavior. In one cent study of youth, a combination of antisocial traits and depression was found to be the best predictor of youth violence, whereas video game violence and television violence exposure were not predictive of these behaviors. According to some researchers, bullies may be inclined toward negativity and perform poorly academically. Dry. Cook says that “a typical bully has trouble resolving problems with others and also has trouble academically.

He or she usually has negative attitudes and beliefs about others, feels negatively toward himself/herself, comes from a family environment characterized by conflict and poor parenting, perceives school as negative and is negatively influenced by peers”. Contrarily, some researchers have suggested that some bullies are “psychologically strongest” and have “high social standing” among their peers, while their targets are “emotionally distressed” and “socially normalized”. Other researchers also argued that a minority of the bullies, those who are not in turn bullied, “enjoy going to school, and are least likely to take days off sick”.

It is often suggested that bullying behavior has its origin in childhood. As a child who is inclined to act as a bully ages, his or her related behavior patterns may also become more sophisticated. Schoolyard pranks and “rough-housing” may develop into more subtle activities such as administrative end-runs, planned and orchestrated attempts at character assassination, or other less obvious, yet equally forceful forms of coercion. Research indicates that adults who bully have authoritarian personalities, combined with a strong need to control or dominate.

It has also been suggested that a prejudicial view of subordinates can be a particularly strong risk factor. Chronic Bullying Cycle While on the surface, chronic bullying may appear to be simply the actions of an “aggressor” (or aggressors) perpetrated upon an unwilling “targeted individual” (or individuals), on a certain deeper level, for it to succeed, the bullying-cycle must also be viewed as necessarily including a certain chronic inadequate response on the part of the target (or targets).

That is, a response that is seen by both the bully and the between the given individuals. A suitable response to any given attempt at bullying varies with the occasion, and can range from ignoring a bully to turning a prank round so that it makes a “prankster” out of the would be prankster, to even summoning legal intervention. In any case, the targeted individual must necessarily somehow demonstrate to the would-be bully that one will not allow one’s self to be daunted, intimidated, or otherwise “cowed” by the bully.

Those individuals or groups who are capable of reacting to initial bullying attempts in ways that tend to sufficiently discourage potential bullies from repeated attempts are less likely to be drawn into this destructive cycle. Those individuals or groups who most readily react o stressful situations by perceiving themselves as “victims” tend to make the most suitable candidates for becoming the “targets” of chronic bullying.

Under some circumstances, targets may be chosen in what may be a completely random or arbitrary process, especially in groups in which the “bully mentality” may have already succeeded in achieving domination within the group. In such groups, the defense mechanisms of the entire group may have already been “broken down”, and therefore the targeting of individuals no longer requires the seeking out of “certain rationality types” to become the “next target”.

The reversal of such chronic and well entrenched bullying behavior in such groups sometimes requires a much more carefully planned, coordinated, determined, and multi-individual response from a would-be target than in a group in which either the “bully mentality” may not (yet) prevail, or ideally in a group that may have already taken a pro-active preventative approach towards bullying. Typically, the bullying-cycle must include both an act of aggression on the part of a potential bully, and a response by a potential target that s perceived by both as a certain sign of submission.

The cycle is only set in motion when both of these two essential elements are present. Once both of these two elements manifest themselves, the bullying cycle often proceeds to feed on itself over time, and may last for months, years, or even decades. The cycle is most easily broken at its initial onset; however, it can also be broken at any later point in its progression by simply removing either one of its two essential ingredients.

While group involvement may seem to complicate bullying activities, the act is most often an implied agreement in principle between a chief bully or instigator and the target that the one has “submitted” to the other. In the act of bullying, the bully attempts to make a public statement to the effect of: “See me and fear me, I am so powerful that I have the ability to inflict pain upon the intended target at the time and manner of my choice without having to pay any consequences”. Should an intended target exhibit a “defeated attitude” in response to chronic bullying, then the bullying is likely to continue.

In circumstances where a “bullying pattern” has not yet fully established itself, should the intended target respond with a clear attitude of self-confidence that somehow demonstrates that the bully’s attempt to dominate is futile, then the bullying attempt will often quickly diminish or end all-together. Established patterns of bullying may require greater and more persistent effort to reverse. Institutions and organs of society often reinforce bullying, often by implying to or telling targets of bullies that they are responsible for defending themselves, and then punishing targets if they fight back.

Overview intimidation”, the term may generally apply to any life experience where one is titivated primarily by intimidation instead of by more positive goals such as mutually shared interests and benefits. As such, any figure of authority or power which may use intimidation as a primary means of motivating others, such as a neighborhood “protection racket don”, a national dictator, a childhood ring-leader, a terrorist, a terrorist organization, or even a ruthless business CEO, could rightfully be referred to as a bully. According to psychologist Pauline Rennin-Peyote, we each face the possibility of being bullied in any phase of our lives.